Pitch is Ticklish
by weirdo44
Summary: the title says it all. This is a work in progress... MAJOR FLUFF ALERT!


_Author's note: I had the idea for this part right after I saw the movie. I am planning on expanding on it considerably into a better story, but right now, it's mostly fluff. Be warned: it gets a little corny at parts. Okay, a lot corny. And Pitch is ridiculously out-of-character. But hey, it's a start, I guess._

(Background: 400 years after the war with Pitch, the guardians feel that he has been punished long enough and rescue him, believing that he can find a place helping children control their fears. Rescuing him is relatively easy, but he is dangerously weak. The guardians hold a meeting to see how best to help him.)

The guardians plus Pitch were standing in their normal meeting spot in front of Santa's globe, discussing what to do about Pitch. Meanwhile, little Sophie (who often dropped by for visits, using her stolen snow globe) was chasing an elf around the room, fascinated by its tinkly bell.

"The best way for him to get his strength back is if he could laugh a bit," Tooth said. Of the five guardians, she was the most knowledgeable about these kinds of things.

"Just laugh? Thats it?" Jack asked.

"Well, it has to be real. We can't just ask him to start laughing."

Pitch rolled his eyes. It was all so humiliating. He was torn between gratitude toward the guardians for his rescue and frustration that he was so reliant on them now. They were his enemies, after all. Or they had been.

"So, what, do we tell him a funny joke or something?" Bunny looked skeptical.

"Well, in his state, he's going to have to laugh for a pretty long time to get any benefits from it. Ten minutes straight, at least. A funny joke probably isn't going to cut it."

The guardians fell silent, stumped as to how to get Pitch to laugh at all, much less for ten minutes straight. Pitch himself, meanwhile, thought the idea was completely ludicrous. Did they really think something so simple would help him?

Sophie paused from her chase and looked at Pitch, who was sitting up against the wall. "Tickle?" The other guardians looked at her, then at each other, and smiled.

"What do you think about that, Pitch?" North asked.

A brief deer-in-the-headlights look flashed across his face when he realized what they meant. "I'm not, uh, ticklish."

North raised one eyebrow.

"What? I'm not!" Pitch said defensively. He moved his arms across his stomach. Bunny chuckled. "Stop laughing!"

"Whoa there, Pitch," Jack said, grinning. "Getting a little defensive, aren't we?"

Pitch gulped.

"Just trust me on this, okay?" Tooth said soothingly. Suddenly he remembered the darkness, the fearlings, and shuddered. _It could be worse,_ he thought. In a failed attempt to look nonchalant, Pitch reluctantly agreed.

…...

"Ten... nine..."

"Let me up. I've changed my mind." Jack was pinning Pitch to the floor by his arms while Tooth, who was to do the tickling, sat on his hips and counted down the seconds.

"Eight... seven... six..." He squirmed persistently, but was too weak to do much.

"Let me up!"

"Five... four... three... two..." Finally Pitch clenched his teeth and braced himself.

"One." Tooth began tickling lightly up and down his sides. He inhaled sharply and held his breath, trying with every fiber of his being not to give in to his own laughter, lest he injure his pride even further. He hadn't realized he was this... sensitive. Even through his robe, the sensation was almost unbearable.

Tooth dug deeper into Pitch's side, and he had to fight down a smile tugging at the edges of his mouth. He wouldn't hold out much longer.

"Pitch, ya know, it's not going to work if you don't laugh," Tooth said, resting her hands on her knees. Pitch visibly relaxed, letting himself breathe for the first time in almost a minute.

"I told you, I'm not ticklish," he snapped. "This is ridiculous!"

"You really think we're going to believe that? You looked like you were going to explode," Jack said with a smirk. Pitch scowled.

"If you want to get your strength back, you're going to have to learn to laugh again," Tooth said gently. A strange look flitted across Pitch's face. Finally he heaved a sigh.

"Okay, fine," he said. "Just... ah..."

"Yes?"

"Go easy on the stomach, okay?"

Tooth smiled. "Don't worry, I won't."

"Wait! What?" He protested, but Tooth ignored him. She attacked his sides and stomach with her fingers, causing him to burst out laughing mid-sentence. "s-s-s-stohahahahap!" he cried as the laughter overtook him. He tried to pull in his stomach and wriggle out of Jack's grasp, both to no avail. "OKAY! OKAY! I'M LAHAUGHING! NOW STOHAHAP!"

"I said at least ten minutes, remember?" Tooth said.

"GAHAHA! I HATE YOU!" he choked out.

"No you don't."

Pitch only babbled something unintelligible through his laughter. Tooth began kneading her fingers into his stomach.

"Tooth! StahAHAHA! I'm- I'm dying! You're kehehe- you're killing mehehehehe!"

"Oh, stop it. You're immortal," Jack remarked.

Finally, Pitch gave up trying to fight it and just let himself go, cackling hysterically. He felt a sudden warmth in his heart- a happiness he hadn't known in a very, very long time. _I'm never going to hear the end of this_, he thought, but for some reason it didn't really matter anymore. It was so strange- he felt like he had broken through a wall and was finally on the other side.

Finally the ten minutes were up, and Jack released Pitch's wrists. He lay there for a few moments, gasping and giggling and panting.

"So, how was that?" Jack asked.

"That... was... torture..." Pitch said breathlessly, but Tooth took one look at the smile on his face and knew that her plan had worked.

_Welp, that was terrible. Don't worry, I ain't done with this one yet. Please review so I can see if its worth continuing!_


End file.
